Bielema told UW players to ignore rumors of his possible departure

Madison - On the same day he agreed to become the head coach at Arkansas, Bret Bielema told the Wisconsin players during a team meeting they might hear his name linked to other jobs.

"He said his name may be brought up with a couple places but to not make anything of it," UW senior quarterback Curt Phillips said Thursday.

The UW players then were told Tuesday morning, the same day Bielema told athletic director Barry Alvarez he was taking the Arkansas job, there would be another meeting that night.

“We assumed that something probably happened,” Phillips said. “The news started coming out throughout the day, so we knew once when we went into the meeting what it was about."

Alvarez, who was in New York City for a National Football Foundation awards dinner, quickly realized Tuesday morning he had lost his hand-picked successor to Arkansas.

"I was at breakfast in New York Tuesday midmorning," Alvarez said, "and when I came back to my room there were a number of calls and I was going through them. Bret called and said he had to talk to me.

"So he came down to my room, sat down, and proceeded to tell me...as we went through the conversation, I said: 'You're not telling me you're going to visit with the Arkansas people. You've already taken the job.'"

Bielema's answer: Yes.

"He left," Alvarez said. "I made contact with a representative of a coach that I was interested in, and I had him in my room five minutes after Bret left and started my process."